Posts Tagged ‘Israel’

Ruth Haley Barton, founder of The Transforming Centre[1], was trained at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation which teaches: “This mystical stream [contemplative prayer] is the Western bridge to Far Eastern spirituality … It is no accident that the most active frontier between Christian and Eastern religions today is between contemplative Christian monks and their Eastern equivalents.” —Tilden Edwards, Shalem Founder[2]

Barton, who could not find peace or direction in her Baptist roots or through reading the Bible and praying, found fulfillment through spiritual direction. Now she incorporates a blend of Eastern and Roman Catholic contemplative spirituality and monastic practices in her retreats and books on practicing the presence of God in the silence and sacred rhythms of prayer. Lately she has been very instrumental in leading entire Protestant and Anabaptist church congregations and their leaders into these same practices through spiritual direction and discernment seminars.

This year, the Mennonites have once again[3] brought in Ruth Haley Barton to help them make decisions in the silence regarding some very important upcoming issues that include LGBTQ and anti-Israel BDS resolutions. How tragic to see an entire church delegation over looking all that is necessary in their discernment process (the Bible), thereby shunning to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) in seeking guidance from an apprentice of Thomas Merton and Tilden Edwards. To read the rest of this article and for endnote material, click here.

Today could go down in history as the day America gets its act together, repents of its political folly and stand once again with Israel. Maybe. Or not.

As Prime Minister Benjamen Netanyahu prepares to address congress this morning to plead for common sense on Iran’s nuclear strategy, we’re seeing reports that President Obama Has Cut Intelligence Cooperation with Israel. And that at least 40 to 60 Democratic lawmakers have declared they will boycott today’s speech, set to begin at 10 central time right after Stand Up For The Truth. We’ve posted a Listen Live link to the Netanyahu address so you can watch. Tomorrow on Stand Up For The Truth we’ll be interviewing David Hocking about Israel, our administration and the times we are in. Click here to continue reading.

What nation could be “apartheid on steroids”? Surely some Islamic stronghold, right?

Wrong.

Try Israel. That’s according to World Vision’s Steve Haas writing for the Lausanne Movement.

Steve Haas of World Vision

Haas goes on to suggest that all the problems of the Palestinian people perpetrated upon them by Islamic thug dictators are, in reality, the fault of Israel. He even blames the demise of the Palestinian Christian population upon Israel when, in fact, Palestinian Islamic leaders have driven out the Christians.

Haas states, “As peacemakers, we have been tasked by a justice agenda of love and sacrifice. I truly believe we can be pro-Palestinian, pro-Israeli, and pro-justice because we are adamantly pro-Jesus.”1

Don’t believe it.

I’ve been present at a tragic event called “Hope for the Holy Land.” The one-night event visited my alma mater a few years ago, Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. It featured a World Vision rep, Mae Cannon, Willow Creek’s Lynne Hybels, and The Holy Land Trust rep Sami Awad.

Their approach offered zero hope for the Holy Land because they only wanted to talk about “the occupation.” Jesus didn’t live in “occupied territory.” It was and is God’s land and the borders are outlined in the Bible.

Efforts to interject truth into that forum were blocked.

Haas says, “For over 60 years, many evangelicals have clung to a very narrow theological narrative that weds Christian theology with a political ideology known as Zionism.” This is in the latest issue of Lausanne Global Analysis.

He compares Christian Zionists—evangelicals with a Bible-based zeal and love for Israel and the Jews—to Spanish inquisitors, Crusaders, supporters of apartheid South Africa, and other historical atrocities.

I don’t put the root of such thinking at the feet of antisemitism as much as I lay it at the feet of “Replacement Theology.” This is the belief that all the promises made to Israel have been transferred to the church. It is raging through many denominations today.

“Replacement Theology” leads to “replacement reality.” That’s what is going on. There is a twisting and a distorting of facts so severe that it has created a “replacement reality.” Folks are believing a lie.

To add insult to injury, pro-Palestinian U.K. Vicar Stephen Sizer last week stated that Israel was likely behind 9/11. The comments were especially egregious coming during the week when most of the free world recognized the 70th anniversary of the liberation of many of the concentration camps.

Sizer’s “replacement reality” leads him smack-dab into the heart of antisemitism, so much so that he hangs out with the daughters of Iran’s Ayatollah Khoumeini.

Here Sizer presents many of his anti-Israel books to the Khoumeni daughters with fond autographed comments.

Sizer has also been a regular organizer, lecturer, and panelist at the Christ at the Checkpoint conference hosted by the Bethlehem Bible College. The bi-annual event has been characterized by sentiment that Israel and her Christian supporters are to blame for most of the woes in that region.

Sizer did apologize for his “replacement reality.”

Folks who think this way believe that the old religious Right crassly imposed a pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy based on its end-time theology, creating untold suffering among largely innocent Palestinians. They now hope that more thoughtful, more compassionate evangelicals, will reject that heritage and instead stand with the Palestinians as the victim group most needing compassion.

The fact is that evangelicals are strong supporters of Islamic evangelism around the world. Many evangelical agencies have been raised up, particularly since 9/11, to reach out to lost Muslims, including Palestinians.

LTRP Note: After you have read Jimmy Carter’s misguided comments about Israel and the “Palestinian Problem,” please watch the DVD Exposing Christian Palestinianism where you will see how Israel is being blamed for and targeted because of the Middle East problem. You will also see evidence of a growing hostility toward Israel from within the evangelical camp. If you are not able to get a copy of the DVD, you can watch a related video here. But we encourage you to educate yourself in this matter.

CNSNews.com) – “The Palestinian problem” is part of the reason for Islamic terrorist attacks like those in France last week, former President Jimmy Carter said on Monday.

On Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, host Jon Stewart asked Carter what he thought was driving terrorism like the attacks in Paris which cost the lives of 17 people over three days.

“Well, one of the origins for it is the Palestinian problem, you know,” Carter replied. “And this aggravates people who are affiliated in any way with the Arab people who live in the West Bank and Gaza – what they’re doing now, what’s being done to them. So I think that’s part of it.” Click here to continue reading.

At the end of every year, Lighthouse Trails presents its YEAR IN REVIEW. Over the next few days, we will post a number of different categories with our top most important stories from each category. Our first category this year is our “Top 10 Out-of-House News Stories.”

This is an opportunity to read important articles and news stories, which you may not have had the chance to read earlier in the year when they were first released. Note: Because we are a research ministry, we often post articles for research and informational purposes from outside news sources, but this is not necessarily an endorsement of these particular sources. As we always recommend, use discernment and godly wisdom when visiting any website.

Today, one of the greatest seductions is that there could be world peace if only the Palestinians had a homeland. The film that came out in 2010 titled With God On Our Sideis aimed at changing the end-time views of evangelicals and the theology that says the Jews are God’s chosen people and have a divine right to the land of Israel.

Porter Speakman, the movie’s producer, explains that there is a biblical alternative for Christians who want to love and support the people of Israel. He says there is a theology that doesn’t favor one people group over another but instead promotes peace and reconciliation for both Jews and Palestinians. Peace would be terrific if Palestinian leadership wanted peace with Israel. They don’t. They want a one-state solution and the destruction of Israel. So whatever theology Speakman refers to is bogus.

“Palestinian Christians lived here for centuries in this land. Suddenly they meet Christian groups of people who say the Palestinians are obstacles to the Second Coming of Christ. You need to move out to make room for the Jewish Diaspora to come here.”

“Anti-Israel activists see American evangelicals as key to U.S. support for Israel. That is why they are targeting evangelicals with messages of pro-Palestinian solidarity as supposedly central to Christian compassion.”

Historical fact: No one urged Arabs living in the region to flee in 1948 and 1967 except Arab leaders themselves. This was for political purposes. Perhaps nowhere is historical revisionism more prominent than it is with issues surrounding the Jews, Israel, the Middle East conflict, and the Holocaust.

“Anti-Israel activists see American evangelicals as key to U.S. support for Israel. That is why they are targeting evangelicals with messages of pro-Palestinian solidarity as supposedly central to Christian compassion.”

“The film’s main message to evangelicals is that the old religious Right crassly imposed a pro-Israel U.S. foreign policy based on its end-time theology, creating untold suffering among largely innocent Palestinians. The film suggests that more thoughtful, more compassionate evangelicals will reject that heritage and instead stand with the Palestinians as the victim group most needing compassion.”

Tooley continues,

“The film perpetuates a simplistic stereotype alleging that American evangelicals self-servingly only support Israel because a Jewish presence there is central to their blood-thirsty apocalyptic dreams about the second coming of Jesus.”

I hope other evangelicals are as outraged as I am at being called “blood-thirsty.”

To sum it up, Israel and the U.S. are nasty imperialists, and Christian Zionist evangelicals only back the Jews because of perceived abused theology: God will bring the Jews back to the land. It rightfully belongs to them. The last days’ scenario centers around the Jewish people and nation. Say folks, I say we can’t change Scripture although many are trying to do so today!

What is true is that Palestinian leaders and the entire Arab world abuse them, not U.S. imperialism and anybody’s end-time theology. Evangelicals are strong supporters of Islamic evangelism around the world. Many evangelical agencies have been raised up, particularly since 9/11, to reach out to lost Muslims, including Palestinians.

The film With God On Our Side wants increased U.S. pressure on Israel to accommodate Palestinian demands, facilitated by reduced U.S. evangelical support for Israel. It just won’t happen. We are smart enough to know that what they really want is Israel dismantled altogether in favor of a one-state solution: Palestine.

Just what exactly is “Christian Zionism?” It is a movement supporting the return of the Jewish people to their rightful homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel. Christians who fit into this category are almost exclusively evangelicals who believe God has a continuing special relationship with the Jews [as opposed to the belief of Replacement Theology]. He has a covenant with them that can never be broken. This is apart from the church. This is based on literal and futurist interpretation of the Bible and the conviction that Old Testament prophecies concerning the Jewish people are being fulfilled today in the State of Israel.

According to the film, With God on Our Side, Christian Zionism and our strange theology have muddied the waters more than any other entity! So, along comes a man who cannot stand the stench of Israel, Stephen Sizer. He is a Church of England priest who has written several anti-Israel books and anti-Christian Zionist books including Christian Zionism: Roadmap to Armageddon and Zion’s Christian Soldiers. Here are some more blood-thirsty images!

Sizer insists that the theology of Christian Zionists rejects some ethnic groups such as the Palestinians. He suggests we are using the lens of Bible prophecy and not the lens of justice. Most evangelicals will always choose the lens of the Bible so let Sizer bang his head against the wall in utter frustration. He has a great platform to do so on the program by the so-called “Bible Answerman,” Hank Hanegraaff. Who are some championing this film? Those who usually side with religious Left causes including Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, Brian McLaren, Steve Haas from World Vision, Gary Burge from Wheaton College, and more.

This film came at a time when Barack Obama tried to impose a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians. Obama behaved as though he were President of the World, dictating borders and treaties even if one side does not want to participate. He has clashed with the Lord God of Israel, and America may never be the same. What other sovereign nation would put up with this scenario? None.

Gen. David Petraeus has blamed the war on terror on Israel, saying that the perception in the Arab world is that America cannot “stand up to Israel.” As a consequence of that perception, Petraeus said, America was losing support among the moderate Arab states. There are no moderate Arab states. But this is just one more American voice condemning our number-one ally and “the apple of God’s eye” (Zechariah 2:8). There was even talk that Barack Obama is going to shut down Israel’s nuclear program. What other nation would be on the receiving end of such abuse?

Some have concluded that Israel, while important, isn’t that important to the United States. The administration has “dug in” on its position and maintains that any Jewish construction in Jerusalem is an “Israeli provocation” and that the price for “peace” is a Palestinian state ethnically cleansed of any Jewish presence.

So those behind this pathetic effort to demonize a group of Christian Zionists and, for that matter, demonize all of Israel, need to do a reality check. There are consequences. Covenants are involved: Genesis 17:6-7; Genesis 12:1-7; Psalm 105:8-15. God is on the side of those with whom He has covenants: Israel and believing Christians who call him Savior. He will never break a covenant. That you can count on. You and I are betting eternity on His trustworthiness. Watching Him perform His promises to Israel should give us great comfort!